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Exhibit
99.1
PRESS RELEASE
NPS Pharmaceuticals and
Nycomed Announce Licensing Agreement for GATTEX(TM)
in Territories Outside
North America
Nycomed Acquires Exclusive
Rights Outside North America in Deal Valued at up
to $185 Million Plus
Royalties
PARSIPPANY, N.J. and ZURICH,
Switzerland, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — NPS
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: NPSP) and Nycomed announced today
that they have entered into a definitive agreement which licenses
to Nycomed the rights to develop and commercialize GATTEX(TM)
(teduglutide) outside the United States, Canada and Mexico for the
treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. NPS will retain the right
to develop and commercialize GATTEX in North America.
Under the terms of the agreement, NPS
has the potential to earn up to $185 million plus royalties. As an
upfront payment, NPS will receive from Nycomed $35 million: a $10
million nonrefundable commitment fee upon signing the agreement and
$25 million within two weeks following the announcement of topline
results from the recently completed Phase 3 study of GATTEX in
patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS), which is expected early
in the fourth quarter of 2007. Nycomed has the right to end the
collaboration within two weeks of the announcement of these results
and forego the $25 million payment.
In addition, NPS has the potential to
earn more than $150 million in payments related to the attainment
of certain regulatory milestones for the SBS indication, the
successful development of new indications and the achievement of
sales-based milestones. Additionally, the agreement provides for
double-digit royalties on GATTEX sales in the Nycomed territories.
NPS will complete the current GATTEX clinical program in short
bowel syndrome and Nycomed will share future development costs
50:50 with NPS to advance and broaden the indications for
GATTEX.
A potential first-in-class drug, GATTEX
is a proprietary analog of naturally occurring human glucagon-like
peptide 2 (GLP-2), a peptide secreted primarily in the distal
intestine and involved in the regeneration and repair of the
intestinal epithelium. A previous Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical
study in patients with SBS showed that daily subcutaneous
injections of GATTEX resulted in significant growth of the
intestinal lining and improved dietary absorption of nutrients and
fluids. Once the company has completed its analysis of data from
the Phase 3 SBS study, it expects to pursue a pre-NDA
mee
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